LT.carguy has a leak

[Lt.carguy]

HOWDY Y-ALL
Well the 92 I was workin on is still doin well, but my father-in-law
(it's his car) called me and said it was smokin bad and the A\C quit
blowin cold.
Well POOP, all that work and it's down again, I drove over to check it out
and found it had no coolant in the radiator.
I then asked him if the smoke was white and what did it smell like
he said yes it was white and it smelled like wet dough that was settin out for awhile.
I began to fill up the radiator to see what kind of leak I had and I heard
water runnin out on the ground, the problem was a leak, a BIG one.
The upper rad hose reciver on the radiator BROKE CLEAN OFF.
Can I trust a salvage rad or should I just get a new one?

Have a happy fourth of july

[Blue Bowtie]

New ones are fairly cheap any more, and a nearly 15-year old used one may not be any better than what you have, could be thin, weak, plugged, etcetera. Then there's the problem of finding one that doesn't have front end damage.

I've found that unless you have a brass/brass or fully aluminum radiator, it doesn't even pay to repair radiators any more. The aluminum/plastic radiators are more or less disposable. Radiator shops WILL work on them, but it's not economically advantageous.

You can get a new single core radiator for under $200, and a double-thick core radiator for under $300.

[richtazz]

I agree with Blue. Even an AC-DElco is under $200, so don't bother with a used one. The plastic tanks get brittle with age, and you could end up with the same thing you have.

[Lt.carguy]

It's done, thanks fer the insight, I did have to clean out the space between the condencer and radiator, it was chuck full of debris, straw, grasshoppers, beettles (the bugs, not the band) but I did it,it was real yucky, but I
cleaned it out.
Things are workin good, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING GUYS!